Cook County marks 9th recent death tied to cold weather

Cold exposure and alcohol intoxication killed a 37-year-old South Side man on Friday, the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

Relatives told police that Michael Banks of the 6400 block of South Carpenter Street had "engaged in a drinking binge" beginning Thursday evening, said Police Officer Alice Casanova.

He accompanied some relatives on Friday to a construction job and remained in their van while they worked. When they returned at 7:30 p.m., Banks was unresponsive, Casanova said. The family members took him to Trinity Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:05 p.m.

The medical examiner ruled the death an accident.

Banks' death is the ninth associated with cold exposure in Cook County in recent months, according to the medical examiner's office, and the second in January. Two people died of cold-related causes in October and five died in December.